Which Shop Vacs Brand Wins?
We compared 7 shop vacs options head to head. Craftsman came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Craftsman
Price shown in test: $101.49
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Weight | Measured amp draw / calculated horsepower | Noise level | Air speed (wind tunnel) | Suction (rubber ball lift) | Wet vacuuming 5 gallon bucket (timed head to head bracket) | Wet holding capacity | 50 lb sand pickup time | Grudge match (hoses joined head to head) | Measured amp draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Craftsman$101.49 | 23.2 lb | 13.1 amps, about 1.8 horsepower, the highest amp draw of all seven brands | 81.5 dB, tied with Hart for third quietest | 13.1 mph, the fastest of all seven brands | 6.4 lb, fourth best | beat Shop Vac in the first round at nearly 6 seconds, then lost a close tiebreaker to Bauer, finishing third overall | 13.9 gallons, the highest of all seven brands, in a 16 gallon bucket | 38 to 39 seconds depending on which point in the transcript is used (both figures given), third fastest | lost to Bauer, eliminated | not tested |
| 2DeWalt$143.37 | 32.2 to 32.4 lb depending on which point in the transcript is used (both figures given), the heaviest of all seven brands | not tested | 75.6 dB, the quietest of all seven brands | 10.4 mph, fifth best, about the same as Shop Vac | 10.4 lb, the best of all seven brands, narrowly beating Bauer | won its only race against Bauer in just under 6 seconds, finishing first overall | 11.6 gallons, best of the three 14 gallon bucket brands, fourth overall | 28 seconds, the fastest of all seven brands, beating Bauer by 3 seconds | won the final match against Bauer after several rounds of back and forth, crowned the grudge match champion | 10.9 to 11 amps; no horsepower conversion is stated for this brand, only that it is less powerful by this measure than the Ridgid, Craftsman, or Shop Vac |
| 3Bauer$99.99 | 19.2 lb | 10.2 amps, about 1.4 horsepower | 87.5 dB, the loudest of all seven brands, described as extremely noisy | 10.1 mph, sixth best | 10.2 lb in its first mention and 10.1 lb in the final recap (both figures given), second best behind DeWalt | beat Ridgid, then Craftsman in a tiebreaker, then lost the final to DeWalt, finishing second overall | 9.5 gallons, sixth of seven brands, ahead of only Stanley | 31 seconds, second fastest, described as totally crushing the test | beat Ridgid, Craftsman, and Shop Vac in succession before losing the final match to DeWalt, finishing as grudge match runner up | not tested |
| 4Ridgid$99.99 | 24.6 lb | 12.3 amps, about 1.7 horsepower | 82.4 dB | 12 mph in its first mention and 12.1 mph in the final recap (both figures given), second best | 5.8 lb, fifth best, attributed by the narrator to a loose lid fit and a detachable motor design prone to air leaks | lost to Bauer at 7 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Stanley and Shop Vac | 12.5 gallons, second best, in a 16 gallon bucket | 43 seconds, fifth of seven, despite good air speed its lower suction hurt this result | lost to Bauer, eliminated | not tested |
| 5Shop Vac$124.99 | 28.4 lb, second heaviest | 11.8 amps, about 1.6 horsepower | 83.5 dB, second loudest | 10.5 mph, third best | 7.8 lb, third best | lost to Craftsman at 7 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Stanley and Ridgid | 10.8 gallons, fifth of seven, in a 14 gallon bucket | 63 seconds, second slowest, attributed by the narrator to its longer 10 foot hose versus most competitors' 7 foot hoses | lost to Bauer, eliminated | not tested |
| 6Stanley$95.42 | 16 lb, the lightest of all seven brands | 9.6 amps, about 1.3 horsepower, the lowest horsepower rating of all seven brands | 79.6 dB, second quietest | 7 mph, the slowest of all seven brands | 4.8 lb, second worst, narrowly outperforming Hart despite lower horsepower and air speed | beat Hart at 7 seconds versus Hart's 9 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Ridgid and Shop Vac | 9.4 gallons, the lowest of all seven brands, in a 12 gallon bucket | 40 seconds, fourth fastest, nearly twice as fast as Hart | lost to Hart in the first round, eliminated | not tested |
| 7Hart$88 | 20.2 lb | 11.4 amps, about 1.6 horsepower | 81.5 dB, tied with Craftsman for third quietest | 10.45 mph, fourth best | 4.4 lb, the worst of all seven brands, attributed by the narrator to a poorly sealing lid | 9 seconds, the slowest individual time of all seven brands, not included in the four way tie for fourth | 12.2 gallons, third best, in a 16 gallon bucket | 78 seconds, the slowest of all seven brands, the hose clogged several times during the test | lost to Stanley in the first round, eliminated | not tested |
How it was tested
- measured amp draw and calculated horsepower
- noise level in decibels
- air speed through an 8 inch wind tunnel
- suction as measured by rubber ball lift weight
- wet vacuuming speed emptying a 5 gallon bucket of water, head to head single elimination bracket
- actual wet holding capacity in gallons
- 50 lb sand pickup speed
- grudge match: suction hoses joined together in a head to head tug of war
“In my opinion, the best overall Shop-Vac is the Craftsman. It has terrific air speed, very good suction, and a very good warranty.”
Data notes and caveats
Seven shop vacs tested across eight sub-tests: horsepower/amp draw, noise, air speed, suction, a timed wet vacuum single elimination bracket, wet holding capacity, a 50 lb sand pickup race, and a final hose to hose grudge match. Transcript is unusually clean with no phonetic brand mangling. A few minor internal numeric inconsistencies are preserved rather than resolved: Ridgid's air speed is given as both 12 and 12.1 mph, Craftsman's sand time as both 38 and 39 seconds, Bauer's suction as both 10.2 and 10.1 lb, and DeWalt's weight as both 32.4 and 32.2 lb. The narrator explicitly names Craftsman as his single overall pick, but DeWalt actually won more individual test categories outright (suction, the wet vacuum race, the sand test, and the final grudge match), and Bauer is separately called hard to beat for raw suction performance with the caveat of only a 90 day warranty; because the narrator commits to one clear overall winner (Craftsman) while also giving these two qualified alternate callouts rather than a true per-use-case split, winner is set to Craftsman and runnerUp is left null rather than guessing which of DeWalt or Bauer he would rank second.